The collaboration is dead, the comic lives

For a couple of weeks now, the great collaboration between Bram en Rik has been somewhat silently buried. It is but a single author who writes you now.

A few days before I decided to split off, I gave a class on collaborations in comics, and praisingwords I did speak. You win: a constant honest critic, there’s the idea-ping-pong, and the obligation you have towards each other. But as in all things, there is a shadowy side. As the collaboration went on, frustrations grew, until we didn’t cut each other much slack towards the end. Every single panel was under debate, as was most of the dialogue. When two artistic visions clash, beautiful things can happen.

But jesus, it’ll wear you out.

In a move of true chivalry, Bram granted me permission to continue on my own, for which I’m enormously grateful. He was perfectly permitted to disallow me continuing our strip — he could’ve got himself a new artist. He didn’t. And careful, honest communication prevented a long-standing friendship from shipwrecking, and there’s no bad blood.

So now I’ve got this comic-thing here on my hands, along with the sole responsibility for it. And I’m thrilled. With the comic being solely mine, I feel much more connected to the characters, and my caring levels have spiked upwards. So now I’m struggling to find a distinctive voice for every character, as I make feeble attempts at being-a-writer. Writership. Wordcraft, maybe?

But I sincerely like the dialogue I’ve written so far (starting from episode 2, page 9) — and the flames of passion are burning high!